I am a realist. I know that I am not a good cook. I will even go as far as saying I'm a bad cook. What I didn't realize is that I am probably one of the worst cooks of all time. I was so excited on Friday. I went to the store armed with a list of things I was going to buy in order to make dinner. A dinner that wasn't partly pre-made somehow. I went home, pulled out my recipe, got everything organized...
For most people this would look like a simple no fuss dinner. For me it was like climbing Mt. Everest. My son saw all of it sitting on the counter and actually said that he didn't know you could buy green beans that weren't in a can! You can go ahead and feel sorry for him if you would like. I'm sure he deserves some of it. Anyway, I had everything ready to go and popped the chicken in the oven. The house was smelling fabulous. I was so proud. Then I realized that the kitchen and family room were a bit hazy. I ran to the oven and opened it up. The smoke that came pouring out was like nothing I had ever seen. I yelled for my husband and son to start opening up the windows before the smoke alarms went off. After the smoke cleared I tried to diagnose what the hell the problem was.. the chicken was far from being done. Well, I had wine in the bottom of the roasting pan and it had all evaporated.. so the chicken juice and things I had in the bottom of the pan were burning. My solution was to pour the rest of the bottle of wine in the pan and pop the chicken back in. No more problems, right? Remember who is cooking before you answer that. After a few minutes I noticed that the wine was splattering up in the oven.. and then BOOM.. giant oven fireball! No joke. Game over. How many people can put a lovely chicken in the oven and get this result...
I try to take something away from every situation. From this I learned that my only safe bet is the raw food diet.
On a more pleasant note.. this arrived yesterday from the Tvyarn Sock Club...
The chick flick this month was Fried Green Tomatoes. Jana puts together really fun goodies to go with the yarn in her club. I really loved this stitch marker, of course...
So perfect for me. In other knitting news.. I ripped out the Spooky 07 sock from my last post. I wasn't liking the screwy pattern from Sock Wizard 2. I then knit about 3/4 of sock in the Broadripple pattern. Hated it. The ball of yarn is in a time out for a bit. Again, with my try to learn a lesson from everything mumbo jumbo.. me and sport weight yarn are not friends.
I wanted to keep with the Halloween theme for the month though so I switched to Spooky from Yarn Pirate...
I love the stripes in this colorway when it's knit in just plain old stockinette but I might die of boredom. Then again, I seem to have a fit when a pattern messes up the stripes. At least I know that no matter what I do with this yarn.. it won't smoke up my kitchen or cause a fireball.
i am CRYING over here....oh my God. Megann...ok look how about we try something a little easier?
Posted by: flutter | October 07, 2007 at 12:12 PM
Oh, no! The chicken thing is cracking me up! I want to say something encouraging about cooking, but... :) Just kidding--it happens to everyone. You did a much better job capturing the TVyarn shipment, btw. Can't wait to see a finished Halloween sock!
Posted by: Jill | October 07, 2007 at 12:14 PM
Alright little miss, I'm gonna come over there and we are going to cook a chicken together- it will all be o.k.
Posted by: Gaby | October 07, 2007 at 05:20 PM
Oh, my goodness! That is the funniest story. KFC is good, though! It's making me hungry.
Posted by: Jenny | October 07, 2007 at 07:52 PM
Almost the same thing happened to me tonight as I was cooking a chicken also--it was smoking quite a bit (I had no wine in the pan either!) and had to keep checking it. I just kept adding water to the pan and thankfully it didn't blow up, but I can see how you got there. LOVE the tvyarn sock pkg!
Posted by: Holly | October 07, 2007 at 08:05 PM
I am sorry about your chicken woes. That sounds like something that would happen to me too! :)
The sock yarn is pretty.
Posted by: Jen | October 08, 2007 at 09:55 AM
I can not wait to see the Yarn Pirate yarn knit up. I love the color of it.
The chicken story cracked me up. I was expecting to hear that it got done but that you had left the little chicken "surprise package" inside it.
You will get this cooking thing down since I know you can bake well.
Posted by: Cayli | October 08, 2007 at 01:11 PM
Oh damn! No wine in the oven...YIKES! I tried to flambe on the stove top once-nobody told me the flashback engulfs EVERYTHING-I'm glad I didn't set my hair on fire LOL! I generally put mine on a rack, put some water in the bottom and throw some carrots and onions and stuff in. McCormacks has some great rubs to use! YUM!
Speaking of Yum...that Tvyarn yarn you just pictured is yummy! Great colurway!
Posted by: Jerry | October 08, 2007 at 05:58 PM
How about those Cook In Bags, where you put it all in and seal it and then put it in the oven, no juices will escape to dry up or to bubble over and light the oven on fire, Oh Boy HOpe your birthday dinner is easier!!!! Love the colors of your yarns.
Posted by: Grace | October 09, 2007 at 05:19 AM
The chicken story is priceless! You know Robin and I have talked about a cooking school for people just like you! This story has convinced me there IS a market out there! I will give you a chicken lesson for free though!
Posted by: Lindy | October 18, 2007 at 09:55 AM